Monday, October 18, 2010

Values in Brave New World

                Mond’s quote explains why the people in Brave New World are created. They are organized into the five different castes: Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons. The Alphas are bred as the most intellectually inclined group, and the Epsilons are the least developed. These Epsilons are bred only for the purpose of manual labor, and they have no objection to it. They are manipulated in the fetal stage to be born dumb and be content with their lower grade of work. This ties into how Mund describes the men that watch the wheels. They don’t know any better than what they were bred for.

                Mond addresses the students on the topic of stability by relating it to water in a pipe. He explains that strong emotion inspired by old views of families, sex, and delayed gratification of desires contradicts stability in society. In their world, words relating to family are dirty (e.g. mother, father). The people have no need for family structures since they are all test tube babies. Only the savages still retain their family structures. Their society also lacks the basic family structures because the people are supposed to adhere to promiscuous lifestyles, thus eliminating monogamy. Children are introduced to it at a young age, as two children discover “a rudimentary sexual game” (31). This follows through into adulthood as Lenina is urged by her peers to not stay with Henry Foster because long-term relationships are not favorable. Happiness is key in their society’s stability, and it is kept intact by these non-marital relationships. Without long-term relationships, people are free to fulfill their sexual desires and calm their impulses so they can remain productive citizens. The society they live in allows people to live without inhibitions so they only need to worry about the economy and their own consumerism.

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